Featured series 
Tag: Education
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Science & Tech
Jackson raps abundance of ‘experts’
In 1973, Shirley Ann Jackson became the first black woman to receive a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Decades – and 38 honorary degrees – later, Jackson is the president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York. Her resume includes time as a university researcher (in theoretical elementary particle physics);…
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Arts & Culture
Tackling tradition and taboos
Mary Gitagno plainly remembers the pain of her traditional Tanzanian tribe’s female circumcision ritual. It is a pain she determined her own daughters would never feel. In the years since, Gitagno went far beyond sparing her daughters from female genital mutilation, beginning a nonprofit organization to lobby the government and educate the public about the…
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Nation & World
Rethinking Islam from Pakistan to Texas
Two Harvard professors are spearheading a new initiative aimed at defeating “a clash of ignorances,” a clash, they affirm, that perpetuates misunderstanding, prejudice, and fear between Muslim and Western societies.
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Nation & World
Speakers at Ed School say it takes a community to educate a child
By 12th grade, black students in the United States are four years behind their white counterparts in reading and math scores, according to national statistics that also show Hispanic students falling behind at a similar rate. Yet by the year 2050, the number of blacks and Hispanics in the United States will jump from 26…
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Campus & Community
David G. Freiman
David Galland Freiman, M.D. was born on July 1, 1911 in New York City, the son of Leopold and Dorothy (Galland) Freiman. After graduating from City College of New York, David attended the Long Island College of Medicine (now Downstate Medical Center SUNY), receiving his M.D. degree in 1935. David completed an internship in Internal…
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Health
Orangutan research yields conservation dividends
The population of the orangutan, one of humankind’s closest animal relatives, has declined with human expansion. The orangutan population declined by 97 percent in the 20th century and over 90 percent of their rainforest habitat has been destroyed. The factors contributing to that decline – illegal logging, conversion of forestland to agriculture, and hunting to…
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Health
Poor fall behind in birth control
Modern contraception has come a long way in the past 20 years, what with diaphragms, hormones, implants, intrauterine devices, condoms, spermicides, and sterilization. But the boom in birth control has been a bust for the poorest women in the world.
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Campus & Community
General Education Task Force issues final report
The Task Force on General Education of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University has issued its final report, in which it recommends a new program to replace the Core Curriculum that was introduced in the late 1970s. In the words of the task force: “It is Harvard’s mission to help students to…
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Campus & Community
Task force proposes ‘compact’ for excellent teaching
In recent years, Harvard scholars have worked energetically and with great success to create bridges between departments and between faculties, the better to share ideas and foster interdisciplinary approaches to tough, complex issues.
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Campus & Community
The end of Early Action: Steady as it goes
In its final year, the Early Action program saw about the same number of applicants and admitted students as in each of the previous three years. A total of 4,008 students applied this year compared with 3,869, 4,214, and 3,889 in the preceding three years. This year 861 students were admitted compared with 813, 869,…
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Campus & Community
BSC announces spring schedule
The Bureau of Study Counsel (BSC) will be offering morning and afternoon sessions of its spring-term “Reading and Study Strategy” course beginning Feb. 12.
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Science & Tech
‘Usable Knowledge’ Web site delivers research to educators
The Harvard Graduate School of Education on Dec. 6, 2006, launched a new Web site aimed at connecting the research of its faculty with educators in the field. The Usable…
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Campus & Community
KSG’s Kistefos fellows focus on public service work
Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (KSG) recently announced the establishment of the Kistefos Public Service Fellowship. The fellowship will be funded through a donation of more than $1 million from Kistefos AS, one of Norway’s leading privately owned investment companies.
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Campus & Community
Eleven grad students are Cooke Foundation Scholars
Eleven incoming Harvard graduate students recently joined 66 other scholars from across the globe to receive scholarships from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. These graduate scholarships cover tuition, room, board, fees, and books — up to $50,000 annually — for up to six years. The scholarships are among the most generous academic awards offered in…
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Campus & Community
Bok talks about current projects, new initiatives
It has been 35 years since Derek Bok was sworn in as Harvard’s 25th president and 15 years since he left office. This July he assumed the presidency for a second time, the only person ever to do so.
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Campus & Community
Harvard to eliminate early admission
Beginning next year Harvard College will eliminate its early admission program and move to a single application deadline of January 1, the University announced today (September 12). The change in policy, which builds on Harvard’s efforts over the past several years to expand financial aid and increase openness in admissions, will take effect for students…
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Campus & Community
PBHA program turns kids into counselors
As summer draws to a close and young people across the area begin to think about returning to school, a group of more than 1,000 students ranging in age from 6 to 21 will head back to the classroom having spent another full summer with the Summer Urban Program (SUP) of the Phillips Brooks House…
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Campus & Community
Sackler smacks of fun for Boston-area kids
University museums as a summer fun destination for kids? At Harvard University they are. For the past several years, Harvard University Art Museums (HUAM) has offered free museum activities for children visiting from Boston-area summer camps.
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Campus & Community
Summer Academy renews commitment
The free ice cream wasn’t the primary draw of the day, though it was a definite plus. No, on Aug. 9, a jubilant crowd of 100 Cambridge teenagers at Cambridge Rindge & Latin School (CRLS) celebrated first and foremost the successful end of six weeks of summer school.
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Campus & Community
Government reps visit campus, learn from researchers
As a part of the Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs program to introduce individuals involved in federal funding activities to Harvard researchers, a delegation from the National Science Foundation and the House Appropriations Committee spent this past Monday (Aug. 21) on campus.
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Campus & Community
Sweeping changes in life sciences education approved
Professors at Harvard University have overwhelmingly approved a plan that will reinvent the experience of the University’s undergraduate life sciences students, broadening degree options to better track modern biology and…
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Campus & Community
DEAS researcher takes turn training future African scientists
Elisabeth Moyer knows that planeloads of relief supplies arrive regularly in Africa. She knows that African and international workers struggle to provide food and to fight diseases such as AIDS,…
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Science & Tech
Child enrichment program still pays off after 15 years
Researchers have detected the lasting benefits of early childhood education 15 years after the program ended. What may have seemed like three years of fun and games at the time…
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Campus & Community
Stem cell researchers collaborate across continents
In order to advance its mission of promoting stem cell research across the scientific community, five junior Harvard stem cell researchers last week (March 9-11) hosted five of their University…
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Campus & Community
Neuroscientist Buckner named professor of psychology
Randy L. Buckner, a neuroscientist noted for his innovative use of new imaging techniques to map human memory formation and retrieval, has been named professor of psychology in Harvard University’s…
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Science & Tech
Student makes cableless cable
Matthew DePetro ’05 earned top honors for his senior design project, “Wireless Cable Television.” The first-prize entry “untethers” standard cable TV and even eliminates the need for a wall outlet.…
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Science & Tech
High school AP courses do not predict college success in science
A survey of 18,000 college students enrolled in introductory biology, chemistry, and physics has found little evidence that high school Advanced Placement (AP) courses significantly boost college performance in the…
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Science & Tech
Charter schools get high grades
For many parents, educators, and policy-makers in the United States, charter schools – innovative public schools that are free from much bureaucratic oversight but must “compete” for students in order…
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Science & Tech
China’s one-child policy comes of age
When the Chinese government dictated that families limit themselves to one child each, it was a huge change: Chinese women averaged six births a piece in 1970, and parents traditionally…
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Science & Tech
Monsters, tooth fairies and germs!
Harvard Graduate School of Education Professor Paul Harris argues that children as young as preschool age can discern whether or not they’re hearing the truth, even in a domain for…